21 May, 5:00 AM: Armed gangs in the Busserine district in Marseille kidnapped a man. Upon arrival, police were shot at by the gangsters, who then fled.

Shocking footage, filmed by a member of the local community, emerged on the internet yesterday. The footage showed armed gangsters searching for someone, firing their weapons and even confronting the police with their weapons.

While driving to the scene, a few minutes after the first shots were fired, a small unit of the Anti-Criminality-Brigade was blocked by a Renault Megane, driven by two heavily armed men, who opened fire on the police.

When a second unit of the Anti-Criminality-Brigade arrived, they, also, were blocked by a second vehicle. There were four armed men inside who pointed their weapons at the police, however, they did not fire at them.

The armed men then fled the scene. “There were no gun-related casualties (…) only one person was hit by a cross strike”, said one police source close to France 3 PACA.

Even though the footage is shocking, events such as this are far from rare in Marseille. Saturday, a 48-year-old Bulgarian was placed in custody after being tracked with a bag of suspected electronic devices in the Saint-Charles train station.

The station is where, seven months ago, an illegal migrant sliced the throats of two teenage girls.